• tab The next thing I knew, I was in a bed. Comfortable. Well made. Obvious. I was in a hotel bed. I was apparently brought to the hotel while I was sleeping.
    tab “Glad you’re awake now.” Jake said. “Nora was right…once you’re off the ground, you’re out cold.”
    tab “Nng.” I moaned. “What time is it? Wh-what day is it?”
    tab Jake grinned at me and pointed to the clock. I rolled over in bed and looked at the digital clock and saw the time. It was only about five twenty-six in the morning. That early? I forgot all about the time distance.
    tab I let out a moan and pulled a pillow up over my face. I felt the pillow pulled away from my face and I moaned at the visible light.
    tab “Jake!” I growled. “Jake…I’m tired!”
    tab “Tired?” Jake inquired. “Bull s**t. You slept for nine or so hours.”
    tab I sat up in bed. I soon enough fell back onto the other pillow. “When’s the meeting?”
    tab “Um…about ten minutes.”
    tab I jumped out of bed and grabbed my backpack that was sitting at the foot of the bed. I ran straight to the bathroom. I dashed out after about a minute wearing a bit of a formal wear.
    tab I looked at Jake to see he two was ready. He smiled at me and walked out of the room. I soon followed him and we were then out on our way to our meeting hall.
    tab We were in a bit of a rush getting there. But we made it in time. We were seated in a room with a bunch of other people with tattoos. None were my age. Nobody let a child become the head of the family. My case was the first one really.
    tab “A child?” shrieked a woman. “If they let a child become head, they shouldn’t let the Dreamers come!”
    tab “Here we go again.” Moaned a young man.
    tab I looked at everyone. Everyone seemed to have gotten themselves caught up in my little case. Some were angry while others were defending me. Everyone stopped talking and looked up when someone entered the room.
    tab He was the most important man to us. He was our ‘king’. King Kyle Cloud. He was an aging man. Probably sixty years old now. His hair was mostly white but some streaks of black could visible be seen. He had simple green eyes and orange zigzag style tattoos.
    tab “Good morning my friends.” He said in a thick British accent. “I see you are all here. Welcomed guests of the families of the Sky, the Earth, and the Hell.”
    tab “Your Majesty,” asked a young Russian woman, “might you please tell us why we’ve be called forth to a meeting?”
    tab “Yes.” Kyle said. “I have called you here because of the incident that had happened about three decades ago.” Kyle sat down in his seat and looked at all of us with his tired and weary eyes. “The incident, where our people randomly went missing, was stopped about a decade ago. But in the last week, three young children went missing.”
    tab Most everyone, including myself, let out a gasp. I was too surprised. I always heard of the rumors about three hundred people going missing in a matter of decades. No one had seen those people since their disappearances. We all, including me, just assumed they were dead.
    tab “Names.” Jake said as he stood up. “What are the names of these three?”
    tab Kyle nodded to Jake said and pulled out a list. On it, from what I heard from one of the people as they whispered to another, was all the names, ages, and dates the people went missing.
    tab “In the past week,” Kyle said, “Jenny Fire, age fifteen, Luke Bird, age thirteen, and Zeke Flame, age nineteen, went missing.”
    tab We all looked down in sadness. The fact that our people are disappearing again? It was horrible.
    tab The meeting continued on for hours. After about ten hours of sitting in that one spot, only to hear arguing and such about the matter, we were finally dismissed. Jake and I went back to the hotel.
    tab Once in our room, I went to take my shower. After about ten or so minutes, I stepped out of the bathroom with a towel tied around my waist to hide certain areas. Apparently while I was in the shower, Jake had ordered Chinese take out.
    tab “Hey there Miles.” He said as he broke a pair of chopsticks apart. “You going to get dressed or eat in a towel?”
    tab “I’ll eat in a bit.” I replied. “But Jake, can I ask you something?”
    tab Jake looked up at me with a curious look. He nodded in response and waited for me to speak. I let out a sigh then spoke. What I said was:
    tab “About the people and the disappearances…didn’t we catch the kidnapper about a decade ago? He was caught trying to kidnap someone during a track meet if I remember right.”
    tab “Yes. We caught that one.” Drake replied. “But we weren’t sure how many there were. It’s been going on all over the world.”
    tab I nodded somberly. I turned away to go back to the bathroom to get dressed. After I closed the door, I looked at myself in the mirror.
    tab Pale skin. Dark hair. Ice blue eyes. Those were the characteristics of a Dreamer. I looked just like my own father. Even the tattoos were similar, when he had them that was. When my father still had his tattoos, there were bright pink spikes covering the body. Oh so similar. His were a bright pink, mine were hot pink.
    tab “Daddy…” I whispered to myself, “…Where are you when we need you?”
    tab The next day, we met in the same room. There were less people than the day before. But these people? They were the ones that didn’t like the Dreamers at all.
    tab “It’s all the Dreamers’ faults.” Said a woman.
    tab She was Duchess Elaine Rose. Everyone feared her because she had power. Everyone that was except me. I only hated that woman.
    tab “If Miles’ father hadn’t remarried and gotten rid of his tattoos, none of this would have been happening again.” Elaine spat out.
    tab “Oh?” I questioned, speaking for once. “Enlighten me.”
    tab Elaine stood up. “Your father, Maximillion Dreamer, married a human.” She hissed. “You Dreamers let a human into our lives. They can find our weaknesses.”
    tab “Hm?” I looked up at Elaine. “Is that so? But I reassure you; Nora would never do anything to harm me and my family. Not even my friends.”
    tab “Maybe not you,” Elaine hissed, “but the rest of us!”
    tab “No. No. No.” I laughed. “Nora knows me. She knows I cherish all of those with tattoos and call them family. She wouldn’t hurt them. Mentally or physically.”
    tab “And you know this how?” asked a young man.
    tab “Intuition I guess.” I replied.
    tab “Filthy child.” Elaine growled. “You think just like those humans. ‘Oh we’re all okay. We’re people. We can handle everything.’ That’s a load of bull s**t! Humans act all nice but if they get something good out of it, they’ll betray others, even those close to them.”
    tab “Nora is nothing like that.” I said in a calm voice. “And I can reassure you neither are Luna and Kristy.” I paused only a moment. I was going to dare to do something no one would appreciate. “Besides, aren’t we all just the same?”
    tab Everyone let out a gasp in astonishment. Elaine just glared at me. She walked over to me and smacked me across my face. The hit knocked me down and to the floor.
    tab “You do not speak of our people in such ways!” she roared.
    tab I didn’t hit back, no matter how much I wanted to. I knew not to hit a girl. It wasn’t sexist in my case. It was just that most girls where I’m from could beat up us guys. I knew Elaine wouldn’t beat me up. She didn’t want to dirty her dainty little hands and freshly polished nails on ‘filth’ like me.
    tab I stood up and glared at Elaine. I didn’t care who she was or the fact that she was of noble blood, but only by marriage.
    tab I wanted to yell at Duchess Elaine Rose. I wanted to call her so many things that almost everyone would have to get a dictionary to learn what I was saying. But I didn’t. I kept my mouth shut and put my hand to my cheek where the b***h b***h-slapped me. I pulled my hand away to see a red color. When Elaine smacked me, she apparently dragged her nails across my skin to cause me to bleed.
    We all looked up in alarm when a young woman came rushing through the door. The door slammed open and the woman ran over to Jake.
    tab “Forgive me, Your Majesty,” she apologized in a British accent, “but I need to borrow Jacob Sky for a bit.”
    tab “Carry on.” Kyle replied.
    tab Jacob. In formal settings such as this, Jake was called by his full first name. I watched as the woman and Jake left the room for a bit. As they were gone and talking, Elaine was giving me a harsh lecture about respecting our people and those older.

    tab After those minutes, Jake came back into the room. His face was red and he rushed to me. He said:
    tab “Miles…we have to hurry. Something terrible has happened in our absence. Nora sent a telegram for us…she needs us quickly. I don’t know why, but I think it’s urgent.” Jake over to where Kyle sat. “Your Majesty, I’m sorry. Miles Dreamer and I have to return home. Something came up and…”
    tab “If it’s important, be on your way.” Kyle said.
    tab Jake nodded and so did I. I jumped up out of my seat and ran out of the door with Jake. We rushed back to the hotel to gather our items and possessions. The airport was the next stop. After another long nine or so hours of flying, we finally landed.
    tab During our flight though, I couldn’t sleep. Normally in planes I did sleep. But this time…I couldn’t. I was far too worried for Luna, Kristy, Gwen, and Nora. I was worried about my family and friend.
    tab Once we left the airport, we rushed straight to my house. Luckily for us, we were able to get a hold of a taxi. We were nearing the house and I saw a few police cars. While the taxi was still going, I jumped out. I ran over and shoved past the bystanders and the police officers.
    tab “Kid!” snapped a policeman with tattoos, much like mine. “What’re you doing? No one without authorization is allowed past the barracks.”
    tab “Let me through!” I shouted.
    tab I shoved past the man and ran right into the house. I was stopped again, but by someone I recognized for sure.
    tab “Miles! Miles! Miles!” cried Kristy as she gave me a tackling hug. “Miles! Gw…Gw…”
    tab Jake ran past me. He ran into the kitchen where I could hear some talking. I held onto Kristy tightly and ran into the room as well. I saw Luna panicking and Nora crying. No one looked hurt. But I notice something. Something was missing.
    tab Gwen!
    tab “Where’s Gwen?” I asked in a choked voice.
    tab Nora shook her head and an officer, a young woman without tattoos, except for a simple one (like normal humans get) on her wrist, confronted us. She looked saddened as well and she cleared her throat.
    tab “Jake Sky?” she asked.
    tab I pointed to Jake and the woman nodded. She turned to him and sighed. She started to speak.
    tab “Jake, I’m sorry to inform you but your daughter, Gwen Sky, was kidnapped.” She said. “There was and still is nothing on why she was kidnapped. Nothing.”
    tab Jake choked a bit. I swore he was going to cry. But he didn’t. Jake gave a nod.
    tab It took hours before everyone left. Nora and Jake stayed in the kitchen after Nora worried and tended to my wound that Elaine gave me. After that hectic little task and explaining, I put Luna and Kristy to bed. I walked down the stairs and opened the front door.
    tab “Nora…I’m going to go out a bit.” I called. “I need to do some thinking.”
    tab Nora and Jake stepped out into the hall where I was standing. Nora obviously didn’t want me to leave. She let out a small and depressed sigh and looked at me.
    tab “Be safe then.” Nora said softly. Nora gave me a hug and stepped back. “Be very safe.”
    tab I nodded and left. I walked around a bit then stopped. I was at the now empty park. No one came to the park at night. No one at all. I sat down on the merry-go-round and sighed.
    tab “We need to find her.” Came a harsh voice.
    tab I looked up to see the rest of the group: Corey, Rosie, and Drake. Drake was in my face and he had a scowl on his face. He looked rather ticked off about what had happened.
    tab “She’s the fourth person.” Drake snapped. “If we do nothing, she’ll most likely die.”
    tab I glared back. “And what are we to do?” I growled in a serious tone as I stood, almost knocking Drake down. “There’s nothing leading to anything. We don’t know where she is!”
    tab “Miles, calm yourself.” Corey said in an easy voice.
    tab I looked at Corey with a glare then sighed. I sat back down and sighed again. I shook my head and felt tears fall down my face.
    tab “What are we going to do?” I cried.
    tab Rosie dashed a bit. “C’mon!” she called. “There’s only one person who can help us.”
    tab We all looked up at Rosie then each other. We looked back at Rosie and followed the little psycho. After a couple of minutes jogging, we were at a small antique shop.
    tab Remember me mentioning Granny? She ran the antique shop in our town. She ran it all day and all night. No one knew if and when she slept.
    tab Once we were at then in the shop, Granny looked up from a book she was reading. She was an elderly woman with simple black, striped tattoos. Her eyes seemed to always be closed so no one knew what color they were.
    tab “Hello dears.” She said kindly. “May I help you?”
    tab Rosie stepped up to the counter and explained the situation to Granny. It took a few minutes. Once the explanations were through, Granny nodded and nodded.
    tab “I see.” She said. “Then you’d best head off to the old glass tower out in the desert.”
    tab We all gave quizzical looks. We didn’t know if Granny knew what she was taking about or if we heard her right. Granny saw our expressions and laughed softly yet heartily.
    tab “From what I hear, some strange things have been going on around that tower.” Granny said in response to our looks. “It’s worth a look.”
    tab We nodded to what Granny said. But Drake stepped up. He looked a bit curious about something.
    tab “But how do we get there?” he asked. “The train doesn’t run at night.”
    tab “I’ll show you guys.” Rosie said as she ran out of the shop.
    tab The other two followed and I so did I. Before I exited the shop, I waved good-bye to Granny then rushed off. We were back with running and soon enough at Rosie’s house. Rosie had opened up her garage manually and turned on the lights. She pulled the cover off of a car and pointed to it.
    tab The car was a nice, four-seat sports car. It was a deep, metallic purple with bright green door. I did tell you that she was ‘one of a kind’ and ‘odd’, didn’t I?
    tab “We’ll use this baby.” Rosie said with a mischievous grin. “We can drive up to the old mine shafts and from there, get to the desert.”
    tab I looked at Corey to see him nodding in agreement. Drake on the other hand, he was shuddering from the thought of it. He didn’t like riding in cars. No one knew why, but Drake was a coward when it came to cars.
    tab “C’mon scaredy cat.” Rosie chuckled. “It’s only about ten miles. Or would rather run that distance?”
    tab “I-I’ll t-take the c-car.” Drake stuttered.
    tab And that was that. We hopped into Rosie’s car and she drove us the ten miles to the mineshafts. The mineshaft was where we weren’t allowed to go. It was illegal. It was far too dangerous for anyone.
    tab After getting up to the mineshafts, Rosie parked her car over by a tree. She jumped out without even opening the door and walked over to a couple of carts for the mine. I followed her to the mouth of the shaft.
    tab “Echo!” I called softly. An echo returned to me and I smiled. “Looks like it’ll be a long way to the desert.”
    tab “Yeah.” Rosie replied. “We’ll need to take two shafts. One to Star Hill Manor and then one to the desert.”
    tab Drake and Corey joined us. I heard Corey chuckle and he looked at Rosie.
    tab “Hey Rosie, you wanna tell these two coward the five century story?” he asked with an evil look.
    tab “Sure.” Rosie said, with an equally evil look. “Listen up you two cowards, you’ll love this story.” Rosie cleared her breath then started up with the story. The story was a long one and went something like this:
    tab “Over five hundred years ago, there used to be a jail up on the hill that Star Hill manor sits on today. Twenty people tried to escape when the power went out. They weren’t found until the next day. Dead. Each one was carefully laid down on the ground, arms crossed over chest, eyes wide open...and a scared expression for each. Their throats were cut...and they drowned in their blood basically. About a century later, maybe more, a couple tore down the jail. They then built the manor. Their first night in their new home, moans could be heard...exactly above where the inmates who tried to escape were killed. On the second night, the woman found her husband hung in the room that had the moaning. She knew it wasn't suicide. It wasn't possible from the way it looked. It was too high up. There was no ladder. The lady became a widow...then died the next day. She was sprawled out on the floor and looked like a scared little angel...so the stories say. A score ago, the house was bought. They were a new couple. Wealthy. In love. They thought the manor was great. That was until their love child went missing. The infant was gone and the couple couldn't find him. Three years later, they found his corpse in the floorboards of that one room that has the moans, groans, and cries. The couple were terrified and mourning over their loss. But they never moved away. They didn't understand the warning. Nope. They stayed and lived in that manor. Of course...you know what happened next...and to this day, no one dared to live there.”
    tab Rosie ended the story and was cackling. Corey couldn’t help but laugh too. I looked over to see Drake hiding in the car.
    tab “Drake, it can’t possibly be real.” I reassured him.
    tab “But it is!” Rosie called out.
    tab “That’s not helping.” I said as I smacked my face.
    tab We all looked up in alarm when we saw flashing lights and heard police sirens. Drake jumped out of the car and ran over to us.
    tab “Ah s**t.” Drake cursed. “How’d we get spotted?”
    tab The vehicles that had the sirens came into view and stopped. Some people, I couldn’t tell the genders, jumped out. They were special police forces, I was sure of it. I’ve never seen anyone like them and dressed like them.
    tab “You four are under arrest for trespassing.” Called out one of them. “Put your hands up in the air, and come this way.”
    tab I felt Rosie tug a bit on my shirt. “Don’t listen.” She whispered.
    tab I wasn’t about to listen. But I did. I heard a couple of gun shots and saw Drake run forward. He charged at some of the people and knocked them down like bowling balls.
    tab “Strike!” Drake called.
    tab “What’re you doing?” I called out.
    tab “You three head on.” Drake said. He sounded like one of the goody-two-shoes good guys in a sappy hero story. “I’ll hold these losers.”
    tab Rosie pulled me back and pushed me into the back cart. Corey was in the front cart and he pulled a bar on it that must have been the break. I felt the carts start to move and I saw Rosie pushing. She then jumped in as we entered the mouth of the tunnel then all was dark.
    tab I didn’t know exactly what happened during that time except for that Corey was apparently having a good time.
    tab I couldn’t see a thing. There were no lights and none of us apparently had a flashlight.
    tab As soon as we stopped, we were at the old manor. It was large, massive, and stank like rotted wood and flesh. I choked a bit from the rank scent.
    tab “Is Drake going to be okay?” I asked in a choked voice.
    tab “Yeah.” Corey replied. “It’s Drake! He’s a one of a kind weirdo. If he runs out of things to do, he uses his head.”
    tab “Literally.” Rosie added.
    tab Rosie unhitched one of the carts and pushed it along the track to another tunnel. She then stopped it and ran over to the other tunnel, the one we came out of.
    tab “I’m going to wait then go get Drake. You two go on.” Rosie demanded.
    tab “But…”
    tab Before I could get any more words out, Corey grabbed my arm and pulled me. He pushed me into the cart and jumped in. it started to move and once again, we were in a tunnel.
    tab The next thing I knew I was collapsed in the desert. I sat up and looked around. I looked over to see that the cart was totaled. I looked for the tunnel then. Once I found it, I was a bit astonished. It had to be at least fifty feet above the ground. No wonder the cart was totaled.
    tab I looked around for Corey. Once I spotted him, I ran to him. I stopped when I saw that he turned his shirt into a sling for his right arm.
    tab “Jesus Christ.” I exclaimed. “What happened?”
    tab “Just busted my arm up a bit.” Corey said. “No biggie.”
    tab “Yes biggie.” I replied as I pointed to the banged up thing. “It has to be broken in about three different areas. I also assume you pulled your shoulder out of your socket.”
    tab “Okay.” Corey said in confession. “Might as well head to that town over there.”
    tab I looked over to see a small village out in the desert. And off in the distance was a large glass tower. I looked at it in amazement.
    tab “Is that the glass tower over there?” I asked.
    tab Corey nodded then started off toward the town. After getting to the town, people gave us some strange looks. I looked around to see all sorts of types of people. It seemed like people with and without tattoos got along. But it wasn’t only the tattoos. There were so many looking people. Some of them Africans, some Asians, some I didn’t even recognize the race.